Esfahan is one of the central and historic cities of Iran, which dates back to 2000 years ago. The city is
enriched with crafts and folk art, which has lead to it being registered as part of the Creative Cities Network
of UNESCO. The centerpiece of the city, NaghsheJahan Square, was inscribed as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in 1979, and it well represents the brand of the city Esfahan; its intricate mixture of historic
architecture, viable urban space for work and recreation for its citizens, and a welcoming landmark on
tourists’ maps.
The variety of typologies used to build the urban spaces has lead to strong pedestrian patterns throughout a
coherence network. Hence, these areas have a powerful potential to change structure, mobility patterns and
people’s perception.
In spite of this, in recent decades, new developments and urban changes such as mega malls and recreational
sites have resulted in new poles in design and architecture in the outside areas of the urban city. This
phenomenon is leading to movement of people, energy and resources as well as changes in life styles, the
image of the city and its mobility patterns.
The objective of this article is to further analyze and discuss how urban transformation and urban changes in
a micro and macro scale affect the mobility pattern and pedestrian flow. In order to this, methodology used is
based on analysis of literature and environment in two levels; first, urban transformation analysis based on
public urban space’s typology and urban space analysis; and second, mobility patterns based on space
character and pedestrian flows.
The results show that emergence of structures such as megamalls City Center or Dreamland Project create
daily driving flows, which decrease urban space’s perception.
In conclusion, in historic cities, such as Esfahan, urban changes should be planned and centered around its
historic fabric, and public urban spaces should be designed and controlled with mobility’s patterns in mind
